HB60: HB60 Healthy Start Act; enact

Right now, Georgia law addresses school breakfast programs in one code section and school lunch funding in another, and neither guarantees free meals to students who qualify only for reduced-price meals under federal rules. This bill removes the separate breakfast law and folds breakfast into the state's main school nutrition statute (O.C.G.A. § 20-2-187), directing the State Board of Education to set aside enough state money each year so that students eligible for reduced-price meals get their breakfast and lunch at no cost. The bill also requires school systems with a high share of low-income students (an "identified student percentage" of at least 40 percent, or lower if federal law allows) to run a breakfast program and to join the USDA's Community Eligibility Provision, a federal option that lets qualifying schools serve free meals to all students. It sets a state reimbursement rate for breakfasts tied to the last federal rate if federal funding stops, and directs the state board to write rules on nutrition standards, eligibility, and using Georgia grown food.

• Gives the bill the short title "Healthy Start" for referring to it in law.
• Repeals the current stand-alone school breakfast law (O.C.G.A. § 20-2-66) and folds breakfast funding into the main school nutrition statute.
• Requires the State Board of Education to set aside enough state funds so students who qualify for reduced-price meals get lunch and breakfast at no cost.
• Requires school systems with at least 40 percent of students identified as low-income (or a lower federal threshold) to run a breakfast program and join the USDA's Community Eligibility Provision, which offers free meals to all students at qualifying schools.
• Sets a state reimbursement rate for school breakfasts based on the federal per-meal rate, even if federal breakfast funding stops.
• Directs the State Board of Education to write rules on nutrition standards, eligibility, notifying parents, and encouraging the use of Georgia grown food, dairy, and poultry in school meals.

Public school students statewide, especially those who qualify for reduced-price meals; local school systems and their food and nutrition staff, who must expand breakfast programs and pursue federal funding options; the State Board of Education and Department of Education, which set funding levels and rules; and Georgia farmers and food producers whose products schools are encouraged to buy.

Students who currently pay a reduced price for breakfast or lunch would get those meals free, and more schools serving low-income communities would be required to offer breakfast and join a federal program that can extend free meals to an entire school. This shifts more meal costs onto the state budget.

• Section 1 gives the Act the short title "Healthy Start."
• Section 2 repeals Code Section 20-2-66, the current school breakfast program law, folding that subject into the main lunch program statute.
• Section 3 rewrites Code Section 20-2-187 to require the State Board of Education to fund free meals for reduced-price-eligible students in both lunch and breakfast programs.
• Section 3 requires school systems with a 40 percent or higher identified student percentage (or lower if federal law permits) to run a breakfast program and to participate in the USDA Community Eligibility Provision for its full four-year cycle.
• Section 3 sets the state breakfast reimbursement rate at the federal per-meal rate, preserved at its last level if federal breakfast funding ends.
• Section 3 bars use of local five-mill share funds for these payments and requires state funds to supplement, not replace, federal funding.
• Section 3 directs the State Board of Education to issue rules on nutrition standards, income eligibility, discreet eligibility determination, compliance plans, start-up grants, and using Georgia grown produce, dairy, and poultry.
• Section 4 repeals any conflicting laws.

1. 2025-01-17House Second Readers (House)
2. 2025-01-16House First Readers (House)
3. 2025-01-15House Hopper (House)

• Imani Barnes (D, HD-086)Primary sponsor
• Carolyn Hugley (D, HD-141)
• Mary Oliver (D, HD-084)
• Scott Holcomb (D, HD-101)
• Kimberly Alexander (D, HD-066)
• Rhonda Burnough (D, HD-077)

• school meals
• child nutrition
• education funding
• free and reduced lunch
• Georgia grown food